“The competency says kids should participate daily in physical activity, so I can use this for participation marks.” Not quite.

While there is a curricular competency that has “participate daily” embedded within it, there is more to it than simply participating daily in physical activity. To ensure students develop the valuable knowledge and skills related to this particular competency, we need to understand what the competency says and what students intend to do with it.

The curricular competency of “Participate daily in physical activities designed to enhance and maintain the health components of fitness” has been interpreted in many ways since the PHE curriculum was officially implemented in 2016. As this particular curricular competency is embedded in the PHE 5 curriculum through grade 12 (Fitness and Conditioning 11 & 12), it is important to know what it means and is asking students to do.

The most common interpretation of this curricular competency is that it means students should participate daily in physical activity, or that they should participate daily in their PHE class. This is a misinterpretation of the curricular competency, or an incomplete one, as it misses out on what students are actually asked to participate in: physical activities designed to enhance and maintain the health components of fitness.

In order for students to do this curricular competency, they first need to learn about related content and then apply that knowledge to develop their abilities with it. Teachers can clarify this process by unpacking the curricular competency and then scaffolding, or progressing, the learning experiences in class.

UNPACKING CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES
When reading the curricular competencies, it is important to know that the verb(s) listed in competencies outline what students will do, or how they can demonstrate their learning (e.g., participate, explain, identify, etc.). What follows the verb(s) is context for what they are doing, or what it is they are trying to demonstrate. So, with this curricular competency, students are not just participating in physical activities, they are participating in physical activities that are designed to maintain and enhance the health components of fitness.

Example: Participate daily in physical activities designed to enhance and maintain the health components of fitness.
Verb: Students will participate
What will students participate in? “…physical activities designed to enhance and maintain the health components of fitness”

For students to be able to do this curricular competency, they first need to learn about related content (e.g., health components of fitness, ways to monitor and adjust exertion levels, types of physical activities to use, etc.) so that they can eventually put it all together and demonstrate what they can do with this learning/skill. Through this content, students learn to do more than merely participate in physical activity; they learn how to use different types of physical activities to enhance and maintain health components of fitness in personally meaningful ways.

INSTRUCTIONAL IDEAS
The health components of fitness (i.e., muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardio endurance, flexibility, and body composition) are introduced in the PHE 5 curriculum in the “Content” section of that curriculum. It is not carried on throughout the ascending curriculums, but it could/should be taught when/if students in upper grades are not familiar with it.

Below, is a 7-step progression to help teachers consider how they could teach related content to this curricular competency. This approach can easily be adapted to include more steps, depending on context.

Step 1: The health components of fitness
Teach students about the different health components of fitness (i.e., muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, cardio endurance, and body composition)

Step 2: Ways to monitor physical exertion levels.
Teach students about ways to determine their physical effort/exertion level during participation, and why it is important (e.g., to stay within a desired exertion level/range based on their goals).

Step 3: Exploring different types of physical activities.
Highlight different types of activities that can help focus on particular health components of fitness (e.g., jogging for cardio endurance, different stretches for flexibility, body weight exercises for muscular endurance and/or strength, etc.)

Step 4: Personal goals
Help students learn about setting personal goals and support them in setting a goal for one or more health components of fitness.

Step 5: Develop a personalized exercise plan/routine.
Support students in developing a personalized plan/routine related to their personal goal.
This could include time and space in their PHE class to implement their plan, and if possible, what they can do outside of a school setting.
Note: it is not advisable to assign “homework” or exercise time outside of the school environment for many reasons. Encourage students to consider ways to continue their plan outside of the school setting instead of mandating them to do so.

Step 6: Monitor Progress and Growth
Teach students how they can record and monitor their own progress and growth as they implement their plan.
Set regular short-term goals or check-ins so that students can self-assess their progress and adjust if needed.
Help students reflect on how they feel about their plan.
Are they enjoying it? If so, what about it do they enjoy? If not, what might make it more enjoyable for them (we know people will do more of what they enjoy, and it’s never to early to learn this)
How are they feeling physically? Are they going too hard/training too much?

Step 7: Goal check
Students check to see if they reached their goal or not.
Help them use their collected information throughout their plan(s) to determine what worked, what might not have worked, and what to do next.
Discuss the importance of valuing the process as much, if not more, than the result of the goal.
Goals are helpful, but not when it is a “one-and-done” event. Anybody can set an easy-to-reach goal, but that is not going to serve them well. Ideally, goals challenge us to grow and sometimes we don’t reach them, and that is a part of the process. We can reflect on why we did not reach the goal, adjust, and then set a new goal and plan that allows us to grow more.

So, is the curricular competency of “Participate daily in physical activities designed to enhance and maintain the health components of fitness” the same as participating daily in PHE class? No, it is not. There is intended learning embedded within this curricular competency (i.e., how to use physical activity to enhance and maintain different health components of fitness), and it would not be appropriate to treat it the same as merely participating daily in physical activity.